ARE YOU RUNNING AWAY FROM THE NOW?

Are you trying to run away or exit your current situation? That is the mind, wanting something else, than what is. Always, the mind will want something else, not what the present moment offers. In this way, we are perpetually restless. We will have to realize this and tell our mind "This is it". Take it or leave it.

At any given point of time, there are things that we like, and things which we don’t like. As is the usual tendency of the mind, it will immediately take for granted the things that we like, the people whom we like, the events that suit us, and quickly shift to those things that are not to our liking or convenience. So, if all is going well, the mind might shift to the uncomfortable weather, saying “It’s so hot, or so cold, or so dry, or whatever”. Or it will wish and hope for more of those things that are to our liking. When the weekend comes, one part of our mind is happy, while another part has already started wishing that the weekend extended longer than two days, and that there were different people around, that you did not have to attend a particular function to which you have been invited, that you were a few pounds less in weight, that you tooth was not acting up and so on. And during the week, when life and work swamps us, our mind is running away to the past weekend or to the next weekend, visualizing all the fun and frolic. In any case, you realize that the mind is very unhappy with the present moment, the now. For some strange reason, this fellow wants to be elsewhere.

Life or reality is unfolding, one minute at a time, only in the now, the present moment. There is no other place where life is happening. If you are not there present mentally, if your mind has run away to the past, or projecting some weird future, then you are not a part of life. You are a part of the dream, the illusion that you mind is creating. Imagine that a great football or cricket match is going on, but you are at the wrong stadium where only the workers are cleaning up the ground. You have missed a thrilling match, only because you were at the wrong venue. This is what is generally happening to all of us, and we are very little in the present, where the game of life is being played, with all its ups and downs, happiness and sorrows, thrills and fears, and are in some far off fantasy land, which exists only in our thoughts.

A stage comes when everyone feels that he has not lived life as he or she would have wanted to, when he or she regrets many moments which could have been lived differently, many occasions where we could have behaved and acted differently. And why did we not do this? Only because we were in the tight grip of the mind and the ego, which was quickly taking us away from the now.

To become aware and to realize this fact is the first step. Once we know this, we can consciously try and be present, be aware, as life is unfolding. The tendency of the mind, to be elsewhere rather than in the present moment, needs to be curbed. Otherwise, we will miss life, and feel miserable at the end. We had a great opportunity to enjoy life with all it vagaries, but we did not, because we had gone somewhere else, through the medium of our mind. The mind is a great instrument, to be used for specific purposes. When it starts taking over those duties which are not strictly its job, there is chaos and confusion. If the mind is used for mathematics or logic, it does a great job. If it is used for love and compassion, it will turn out a lousy performance. The results of using a microwave oven to do your laundry or a dishwasher to bake a cake, are obvious to us. That is exactly what we are letting our minds to. Wake up and smell the coffee.